ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed

PETITIONED: August 2007 (federal); October 2007 (California)

RANGE: Mountains throughout the western United States and Canada from northern New Mexico and California to central British Columbia

THREATS: Primarily global warming, through direct impacts from rising temperatures as well as potential changes in vegetation

POPULATION TREND: Studies of American pika populations in the Great Basin and California have found recent population losses at lower elevations, resulting in upslope shifts in range. In the Great Basin, nine of 25 historic pika populations have recently become extirpated, pushing the pika range upslope 900 feet.

Photo by William C. Gladish